


Fooling

by MadJJ



Series: Starkinelli Shorts [13]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angie acting like a master manipulator, F/M, Howard being a dunce in the background, Peggy acting like a mischievious imp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22833454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadJJ/pseuds/MadJJ
Summary: Peggy is an excellent investigator and no one is fooling her. She's also a good actress - not on Angie's level, but definitely better than Howard - so she can let them think their secret is safe a little longer.
Relationships: Angie Martinelli/Howard Stark
Series: Starkinelli Shorts [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1512605
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Fooling

Peggy had had a very long day at work.

It had begun with a shouting match with Thompson over who should have been assigned to the next stake-out mission on their current case. The man under observation was a powerful mob boss that didn’t bother to hide his amusement at how his investigators were handling his case. The whole SSR team in New York was very motivated by the idea of taking him down, if not for his crimes, at least for his attitude.

Peggy simply didn’t agree with Thompson that the most recent addition to their team, a young but promising agent, should have been included in the surveillance.

She had made her point, but Thompson was still her superior, so young Agent King had gone.

As she had feared, things had degraded rather quickly and they had to be called as back-up to make sure there was no civilian casualty. In spite of the shots fired inside the house and the chase that had followed, they had bupkis on the perp.

Agent King did get shot in the shoulder, so they had one less man on the mission at the moment.

Peggy was exhausted just thinking about forming another recruit to join their team – they wouldn’t be able to finish this case without more reinforcement, there were too many leads to follow.

She hung her coat in the entrance and let her shoulders drop an inch. She had to lay down somewhere and relax a moment. She was planning on reading her files again that evening, but not right away.

Head still filled with thoughts on her current case, she called out to her roommate:

“Angie? Are you there?”

She usually remembered when Angie told her about what shifts or auditions she went to, but was too distracted as of late. Maybe the waitress would be up for a quick chat about her day before Peggy locked herself in the office. Talking with her friend always put her in a good mood.

She heard some shuffling at the end of the corridor and walked up to the living room, suddenly curious.

“Huh, yeah English, I am!” responded Angie, her voice muffled through the closed door.

What was she doing?

“Angie? May I come in?”

Peggy had already put her hand on the doorknob but didn’t push the door open until she had confirmation from her friend.

“Of course, why wouldn’t you?”

The living room was a spacious room with welcoming couches and elegant furniture. Peggy thought they could have hosted a reception with several dozens of people in here and still be able to move around without problem.

Angie stood next to a couch in the middle of the room, smoothing her skirt over. She wasn’t wearing her uniform, so she must have gotten home a little while ago. Instead, she had a red wool sweater and a dark skirt on that seemed much more comfortable – and elegant – than the aqua blue waitress outfit she had to wear for work.

Peggy’s eyes immediately got drawn by a few details that were… Off in the room.

Beginning with Angie herself, her hair, usually held back by hair slides, was flowing freely over her shoulders and a strand in particular was a bit tangled. The aspiring actress’ expression didn’t betray anything, but her foot had still been kicking something underneath the couch when Peggy had entered the room.

The couch itself was decorated by a few pillows, but they weren’t in place as they should have been, looking like Angie had been lounging on them. Why then, would she have gotten up as Peggy had entered?

“Did I interrupt something?” she asked, her eyes trailing to the windows behind Angie.

There were heavy curtains hanging in front of them. They, too, had been disturbed.

Peggy didn’t let her stare stop at them, making sure her eyes were traveling smoothly from one side of the room to the other. No one could have figured out what she’d been paying attention to based on her neutral expression.

 _Let the game begin_ , the agent thought.

“No, why do you ask that?” Angie said with a voice so innocent Peggy could have been convinced, had it not been for the evidence laying around.

“… Nothing.”

“I was just about to rehearse a few lines – did you want to tell me something?”

“Oh, nothing in particular,” Peggy shrugged as she settled down on the couch, “I just thought we could talk a little. I feel like it’s been ages since we’ve had a meaningful conversation.”

“Sure, I’ve got plenty of time on my hand, we can talk for a bit,” Angie smiled and settled on the couch next to her friend.

Peggy didn’t miss how the corner of Angie’s mouth was a bit too slow to rise and how her whole body was overtly relaxed. Angie hadn’t once looked in the windows’ direction, even if a slight move of the curtains should have attracted her attention like it had Peggy’s.

“So, how was your day?” Angie crossed her legs and put her hands on top of her knee.

“Exhausting,” she resumed in a word, “I’d like to share more but, you know, it’s still classified,” she waved as a way of explanation. “How was _your_ day?”

“Same as usual,” Angie indulged in the small talk with a little grin that meant far more than she let on. “Barely had any annoying clients at the dinner!”

 _Time to stir up this conversation a bit_ , Peggy decided.

“Oh, talking of inappropriate and crass clients, I don’t know if Howard has come by lately?”

Both women completely ignored the small thud noise from behind the curtain. Peggy was impressed that Angie’s only reaction was the smallest of crease between on her brow before it smoothed over. The actress was excellent at controlling her face. Peggy almost wished she had her as an undercover agent.

Peggy chose to cover the sound with a small cough of her own; the perfect explanation as to how she could have missed it.

“I think he mentioned he wanted to see me for something,” she continued without giving any sign that she had noticed the curtain, then added another cough for good measure, “but that was a long time ago. I’ve been so busy with work...”

“I don’t know why you’d make that connection -” Angie began defending Howard with a detached tone before quickly skipping past the subject, “- but no, I haven’t heard from him. Are you all right?”

“Yes, just had something caught in my throat, I think I need to drink something. Say, you haven’t told me anything yet about your latest audition – for Nora’s role in Doll’s House, wasn’t it? How about I make some tea, grab us a bottle of schnapps and you give me some details?”

Whenever a bottle of schnapps was involved, the two women generally ended up spending two or three hours talking and woke up with a headache – the strength of which depended on what other alcohol ended up mixed in their drink. Peggy wasn’t offering hoping she’d get Angie to agree. Rather, she was eager to see how her friend, as she strongly suspected she would, was going to refuse.

For the first time since Peggy had entered, Angie let her eyes dart in the windows’ direction – she had checked so quickly that, had Peggy not been expecting it, she would have missed it.

“Th-that sounds lovely, English,” Angie smiled, “but, uh, didn’t you say you had to work every evening?”

Peggy _had_ said that earlier that week.

The SSR agent decided to push her luck and shrugged.

“Well, yes, but it was a very long day. I’m thinking I deserve a break after working so hard. Wouldn’t you agree?”

The thud that came from behind the curtains was a bit louder this time. Peggy pretended she hadn’t heard it by bringing her hand up to fake yet another cough. She wanted to keep this entertaining charade on a little longer if she could. She hoped she wasn’t being too obvious.

Thankfully, Angie must have been much too worried about being found out and didn’t seem to suspect her for a second.

“I don’t think schnapps is such a good idea,” she argued, “you’re working tomorrow, you don’t want to wake up with a hungover, do you?”

Was Peggy imagining the note of unhinge in Angie or was the actress really losing her calm?

“I guess you’re right. No schnapps, I’ll just make us tea,” she said as she got up.

The quickest way to the kitchen was by walking near the windows. Angie caught her arm before Peggy could take another step.

“Oh, I’m sorry English, I just remembered I had lines I needed to memorize tonight,” the actress said, a tad too fast. “Maybe another night?”

Peggy finally took pity on her friend and relented.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Angie had said so earlier, but Peggy wasn’t about to point out that she knew the actress wanted her out of the way since the beginning of their conversation.

“I’ll leave you to it then. I have some work of my own to do.”

Angie’s shoulders relaxed, for the first time bringing Peggy’s attention to the fact that they had been a couple of inches too high during this whole conversation. Angie’s silent smile of relief almost made her friend snicker, but she held it in.

“I’ll go take my tea and go to my room then,” she said to give one last tease.

“No!” the exclamation was sudden, but rapidly controlled. “I’ll bring it to you – you said your day has been exhausting, didn’t you?”

“Thank you Angie, that is _so_ kind of you!” Peggy gave her a large smile and walked in the opposite direction of the kitchen.

She had had to turn away briskly less she’d risk revealing the hilarity that was now showing on her face. Reaching the exit felt longer than it should have. Peggy finally closed the door behind her and let out a shaky breath that rang like a soundless laugh, then headed towards the stairs to get to her room.

She wondered how long her friends would keep ‘secret’ that they were seeing each other. She knew just the identity of the man hiding behind the curtain. She had guessed after she had noticed the lack of report on Howard’s new conquests those last few months, and how stiff he was whenever Angie was around. Angie was an excellent actress. Howard was not.

Peggy supposed they were afraid she would oppose to their relationship. She had admittedly warned Howard to stay away from Angie when they had introduced the two, afraid he would break her heart – or simply be a giant prick. Angie already had to deal with enough unwanted attention from the Automat’s patrons. Peggy was no longer worried about that though.

But really, who did they think they were fooling? Investigating had become an integral part of her job – and Peggy was good at her job. Peggy was sure they got a little thrill at ‘duping’ her. Plus, she had more important worries than meddle with their affair as of now.

And, frankly, seeing them floundering around was hilarious.

Peggy sighed as she sat down at her desk. She wished her perp was as easy to see through as Angie and Howard were.

**Author's Note:**

> Psst, I have a tumblr: https://mad-j-j.tumblr.com/ and if someone has a prompt I could be tempted into writing for it!


End file.
